BoardVitals is essentially a repository for hard questions. Aimed at doctors-to-be, the service wants to change the way medicine is taught and is beginning with the medical boards, test taken by doctors in specific fields to become licensed to bleed you to release the bad humours.
The company raised $1.1 million in Series A from Rock Creek Capital after a small seed fund. The company has trained over 30,000 doctors so far and is in use at 150 institutions.
In its current incarnation, the service allows students and doctors to take practice tests using thousands of pre-selected questions. The questions are based on actual medical board tests and can be used to refresh yourself on concepts or prepare for the exams.
“It’s not only about new technology, it’s about building a new ecosystem for medical education,” said co-founder Dan Lambert in a release. “Every piece of content on our platform is continually rated and we receive hundreds of feedback notices every week that ensure content is up to date.”
As you’d expect, the ultimate goal is to move medical board test prep entirely to the Internet and, ultimately, move basic medical education to the web. While you can’t teach trepanation and leeching via YouTube, doctors-to-be can learn the basics of miasma theory and mercury cures (and psychiatry and oncology) online from accredited and thrice-checked sources, making tools like BoardVitals a solid step forward.